THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS IN TOURISM STRATEGY OF TURKEY-2023 WITHIN THE OUTLOOK OF TOURISM PLANNING

9th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2009, www.sgem.org, SGEM2009 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 14-19, 2009, Vol. 2, 875-883 pp

ABSTRACT

The growth of tourism has prompted debate about environmental consequences and
desirability of further development. The effects of mass tourism and increasing
awareness of the human impact on the environment led more environmentally sensitive
forms of tourism such as ecotourism and wildlife-based tourism.

With this increasing awareness environmental concerns are explicitly included in
sectoral policies and programmes concerning many areas including tourism, urban and
rural development. One of the recent examples of environment being involved in
tourism planning can be examined in Turkey’s Tourism Strategy 2023 and the 9th Five
Year National Development Plan as both of them promotes ecotourism regions to
develop nature based tourism.

The Tourism Strategy of Turkey 2023, with its emphasis on cultural, health and
environmental areas, has laid out the blueprint for the country’s future development. By
the implementation of this plan; nine culture and tourism zones and seven tourism
development corridors, 10 tourism cities, ecotourism zones will be created.
Implementation has merely started recently, but the plan is anticipated to be highly
influential on Turkey’s tourism.

The researchers in this study examine Turkish tourism policies and planning with a
specific focus on Tourism Strategy of Turkey 2023. The plan is studied in detailed to
monitor the integration of environmental concern and ecotourism in tourism
development plans and aimed zones.

Keywords: Tourism Strategy of Turkey 2023, ecotourism, tourism planning and policies